Month: February 2020

Mike Bloomberg, Michael Bloomberg, Sylvester Turner

Buying Elections: The Bloomberg Meme Campaign

Interfering, corrupting and altering the views of electors is apparently frowned upon. But it all depends on who that manipulating source is. The Russians might be condemned for being meddlers of minds in the US electorate, but an American billionaire who hires battalions of influencing agents to get his word […]

Senate

Wake Up Senators!

The US Senate, long the lap dog of the man who would be king, President Donald Trump, appears to have finally remembered its proper constitutional role. Last week, the Senate voted 55/45 for a new bipartisan War Powers Act to constrain military action against Iran. The Congress voted a similar […]

Surgical Masks And Coronavirus

Fashion Fetishism, Surgical Masks And Coronavirus

Entering Singapore’s Changi Airport gives the visitor a glimpse of a mask fetish.  Security guards wear it.  As do the nurses and the various personnel who man cameras like anti-aircraft batteries, noting the approaching passenger in transit with due suspicion.  The passenger, in turn, wishes to avoid showing anything that […]

Third intifada

Next Intifada? (II)

Part I The negotiations, the Washington talks and the Oslo Accords    During the First Gulf War in 1991, the Palestinians and their national organization the PLO opposed the US-led attack on Iraq. After this war, the PLO became diplomatically isolated and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia stopped to finance it […]

Сhina And The Coronavirus Problem

Сhina And The Coronavirus Problem

Authoritarian responses, with the gloved heavy hand, will always find its admirers.  The reaction by Chinese authorities to the novel coronavirus (now named COVID-19) outbreak has been receiving its fair share of gushing praise from some medical circles.  No country builds hospitals as quickly as they do; or seal off […]

Middle-East Peace Plan Rejected

Irrational Middle-East Peace Plan Rejected

President Trump termed it as “Deal of the Century”, but was rejected immediately as it is irrational and based on injustice. The Peace Plan was prepared after close consultations with Israel and ignoring the Palestinians. The plan was authored by a team led by Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor Jared […]

Gaza Palestine Israel Middle East

Next Intifada? (I)

The Deal of the Century proposed by acting US President Donald Trump once again opened a Pandora Box of the Israeli-Palestinian relations in the Middle East.[i] It is very rational to predict that the Palestinian answer to the Deal of the Century is going to be in the form of […]

US Central Asia strategy

US Rolls Out New Central Asia Strategy

Every five to six years, roughly, the United States comes out with a ‘new’ Central Asia strategy. The Indian automobile industry might call it “facelift” — cosmetic changes to create an air of novelty, such as  a new radiator grill, a tweak in the rear bumper, exciting colour options and […]